


The Mystery Of The Missing

by TheNick



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Horror, Missing Persons, Mystery, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:54:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27207715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNick/pseuds/TheNick
Summary: A pair vacation in a small city and spend the night with some friends. the friends make it clear that there is more to this little town than meets the eye.





	The Mystery Of The Missing

**Author's Note:**

> This is a real short story! I'm kind of proud of it and as always, this is a work of fiction, any resemblance to real people is strictly coincidental. If you liked it, please comment! It would mean the world to me!

“We haven’t seen them in a while. Are you sure you want to do this?” Noah asked, turning into the neighborhood. “Yeah! They reached out to me to begin with!” I answered, looking at the rows of houses lining the street. Little houses, big houses, two-story, single-level, an odd assortment of houses, in a quiet little neighborhood.  
We were just an average couple, leaving our average home in an average city in an average state. Just a short vacation, going to see friends we hadn’t seen in a few years. Three nights, just hanging out and relaxing. Fun.  
“I think that’s the house.” I pointed to a large, two-story house with a cute treehouse in the front yard. “Nah, it’s this one. I’m positive.” Noah pointed to a small, run-down, single-story home. There were holes in the side, it looked as if something had eaten away at the siding. The windows were grimy, the porch looked cluttered, and it looked...messy.   
“No, Em is a fan of creature comforts. She’d NEVER live in a place like that.” I responded, shaking my head. “Alright, but I’m almost positive that’s the one.” Noah turned and fully looked me in the face. “Do you want to bet?” I asked. “No, even though I’m right.” Noah grinned as he watched me roll my eyes. “See? There she is!” Noah pointed and pulled closer to the driveway. I watched as Em, Taylor, and Nathan all made their way to our car.  
“Hey! It’s good to see you!” I said, “hugging Taylor and Nathan. “How have you guys been?” I asked, Looking at both of them. “We’re good! We missed you so much,” Nathan spoke, turning to Noah. “I don’t think we ever got to meet you?” Noah shook his head, laughing. “Nah nah, I’m Kodie’s boyfriend!” Taylor and Nathan quickly shook hands with him.  
“Em, how are you?” I asked, fully turning to her. “Fine.” She spoke, turning back and heading into the house. “That’s good, I’m fine, thanks for asking,” I mumbled to myself, following the three of them into the house. “Oh! You mentioned that this was a four bedroom home and there were five of you. Are we gonna be rooming with anyone?” Noah asked, moving to place his hand on my back.   
The boys looked at each other before turning back to us as Em let us into the home. “Don’t worry about that! We’ll get you situated!” Taylor spoke, sounding...almost unsure. “So this is Abigail! She’s the other female roommate!” Nathan spoke, motioning to a small, lean, blonde female. “Hi! Nick, right? And your...Husband? Noah, was it?” She spoke, offering her hand. “Yeah, Hi! It’s a pleasure,” I paused, looking around, “I thought you said there were five of you? Another male roommate, right? Where’s he?” I asked, tilting my head.  
They all looked from Abigail, to Em, back Nathan, finally landing on Taylor. “We don’t talk about that.” Taylor spoke softly, shrugging. “Oh. Alright.” I furrowed my brows. “So, am I gonna get the tour?” I quickly changed the subject, attempting a small smile. Abigail gave a nod and returned my smile. “Yeah! I knew we were forgetting something! Follow me!” She laughed and began leading me through the house.  
The first bedroom she showed me housed a double bed, two nightstands, and a desk. “This is Nathan and Taylor’s bedroom. Simple, small and efficient!” Abigail giggled, and began leading me to another bedroom. “And this is mine and Em’s room!” Abigail pushed open the door and I found myself chuckling. A double bed, two nightstands, a desk, some stuffed animals, and pastel pink walls. “Yeah this is more her style, so I’ll take you to the room you two will be staying in!” Abigail hummed as she took me down the hall.  
Upon opening the door, we were greeted by an empty room. “We’ll get the air mattress set up in a little while. Didn’t you guys have something to do tonight? A museum, production, something or other?” Abigail asked, turning to face us fully. “Huh? Oh! Yeah! Me, Noah, and the boys were going to a little production on Paganism and history!” I responded, laughing a little.  
“Wait. Why is this room empty? Up until like...two weeks ago that other roommate was still here, or at least, that's what I was told. Did you already sell his stuff?” I asked, crossing my arms and tilting my head. Abigail gave a sigh. “I’ll tell you...at some point,” She made eye contact with me and her facial expression changed immediately, “Besides! You’re gonna be here for a couple of days anyway!” She...Changed the subject? This only seemed to be getting weirder and weirder.   
“Uh yeah, I guess. Are the boys ready to go? We can go ahead and leave for the thing!” I responded, feeling weirder and weirder about the situation. “Well we have time to kill, we could always just chill for a little while!” Nathan spoke shrugging as we made our way back into the living room. “Take a seat! Get comfy, relax! We haven’t seen each other in so long!” Taylor added, shrugging. “Oh, I guess.” I spoke, slowly sitting down on the small couch.   
Noah settled himself down next to me, albeit awkwardly, and slowly put his arm around me. “You know, I used to say if I was getting enough money I wanted us to all move in together, hah.” I said with a gentle laugh, leaning into Noah’s side. “Nah, you don’t want to live here.” Abigail answered, sounding rather...sad? “What? Why? I mean, aside from it being dark, dirty, and all around messy, why not?” I asked, tilting my head.  
Em looked over at Abigail and over to Taylor. “Well...This place is...Special.” Em said, finally actually speaking to me. “Special?” Noah asked, raising an eyebrow. “Well, yeah. It’s kind of,” She paused, looking around as if she was waiting for someone to stop her. “It's sort of cursed,” Em quietly shrugged her shoulders, and the rest of the crew slowly nodded. I looked up to Noah with a confused raised eyebrow.   
Noah shrugged, and I turned my attention back to the friends. “Cursed? Like...What kind of curse?” Em let out a sigh. “Basically the people here believe the land has some kind of curse or something. They think that, if you are outside after eight P.M., something will come snatch you up. The fae, forest demons, I don’t honestly know, but it is true.” Em put her hands up and shook her head.  
“Wait...Are you sure it isn’t just a story parents told to keep their kids in line?” I asked with a soft laugh. “Em sighed. “We lost our roomie to it.” I felt my lips part in a slight ‘Oh’ and I nodded. “How do you know he didn’t just...Up and leave in the night?” Noah asked, pulling me closer to him. “Because. He stayed out past eight. We warned him! He sat outside and he…”She paused, looking to Abigail. “He screamed. We couldn’t go out and save him. The next morning there was blood all over the lawn.” Abigail’s eyes looked suddenly...dead and cold.   
“He had originally stayed out to finish yard work. After that he just...changed. He went from sweet, funny, goofy, to,” Abigail paused, thinking, “he became mean, aggressive, he was suddenly violent and angry. He wasn’t himself. Over a week he’d completely become a different person!” Abigail suddenly blinked and shrugged, becoming more lively. “What was his name? Ev-” the squad quickly hushed me. “Don’t say his name.” Taylor calmly spoke, placing a hand on my shoulder.  
After a solid few minutes of silence, I cleared my throat. “Well, we don’t want to miss that production, we better get going.” I said, nervous laughter still managing to escape my mouth. “Oh yeah, sure. I guess we’d better go.” Nathan said, rolling his shoulders. Abigail and Em nodded, both getting out of their seats. Noah silently got up and headed directly for the door.  
The boys and I had decided to hang out in the cultural center with one of the cast members, as it was his last show of the day and I hadn’t seen him in a while either. “Must be nice, traveling the states, stopping and chilling and getting paid to speak with folks.” Taylor had said with a laugh. “Oh yeah, not like I legitimately have to work or anything,” Marco laughed and patted Taylor’s back. “And you! Nick I haven’t seen you in forever!” Marco patted my back and pulled me in for a one-arm hug.   
“So where are you living now?” Marco asked, now addressing both Noah and I. “Oh we live a few states away! We’re vacationing!” Noah answered. Marco’s face shifted into one of concern immediately. “Uh, I’m gonna need you two to separate from the group. You two,” He pointed to Noah and I, “Go that way. You two,” He addressed Taylor and Nathan, “Over there.” Immediately he ushered us further away, well out of earshot, and even still dropped his voice to a whisper.   
“So how long have you two been in town,” Marco asked, eyes darting in between Noah and I. “Just...a few hours?” I answered with a raised eyebrow. Marco shook his head. “You two need to leave, like pronto!” He quickly grasped my shoulders. “I don’t care if this throws a wrench in your plans. You have to leave! You are not supposed to be here. The universe will call you here when you are meant to be here, but that time is NOT now!” Marco quickly pulled us in for a hug.  
“But...I told th-” Marco cut me off and shushed me. “I don’t care. Get out of here,” He handed me a business card out of his jacket. “Here. this has my cell number on it. Text me when you leave. And if you can’t leave before nightfall, wait until the morning. Be inside by 8. Please, promise me?” He asked, now gripping my shoulder’s much tighter. “Alright, alright! We’ll leave tomorrow morning!” I answered, putting my hands up. He pulled me into one last hug. “Good. stay safe tonight.” he spun around and addressed the boys, motioning to us, and we walked back over and rejoined Taylor and Nathan.  
After getting back to their place, I found myself just getting the air mattress ready. “The faster we sleep, the faster we can leave. We wouldn’t be able to leave the city within an hour, you know that.” I spoke quickly, softly, hoping my friends couldn’t hear me. “Don’t you think it’s silly?” Noah asked, handing me a granola bar. “Look, I’m tired, and stressed, I just want this week to be over. Alright?” I gave an exasperated sigh and pulled my hair back, slowly nibbling on my granola bar. “Let’s just go to sleep, okay? Faster we sleep-” Noah cut me off. “Yeah, yeah, faster we can leave. I just think it’s silly.” I rolled my eyes and set up our blankets. “Just lay down. Please?” I asked, laying down myself.   
Somewhere around three in the morning, I could hear someone rustling through our bag. At first I thought it was Noah, maybe looking for a pillow or something. After a moment I shifted and felt Noah’s body next to me. I froze. If it wasn’t Noah, then who was it? Was it one of the roommates? Was it just my imagination? I slowly rolled over and stared down whatever was going through our things. I don’t know who or what I expected, but I thought I was prepared to face whatever was there.  
In the corner stood a man, his clothing was ripped and shaggy, he seemed to have blood covering his back, his hair was shaggy and matted, he looked...dirty.. He’d frozen in place as I’d rolled over and he appeared to be waiting to see if I’d go back to sleep. But now that I knew something was definitely in the room, I wouldn’t be going back to sleep. At least...not anytime soon. I swallowed hard, my heart began to race and I decided that I needed to sit up and address whoever the man was.   
“You aren’t supposed to be here.” I spoke calmly, or I hoped I sounded calm. He fully stood up and slowly turned to face me. His eyes were sunken and dead-looking, his cheeks were thin, and his face was completely covered in blood. “Neither should you.” He grinned. His teeth were jagged, and oddly sharp. He didn’t seem human, it was like some kind of demon or beast was pretending to be a human.   
I stood up. “Who...what are you?” He...they...it? It tilted it’s head and a menacing smile graced his features. “Didn’t they tell you about me?” He took a step towards me. “It’s ME! Evan! Have they forgotten me already?” I blinked and swallowed thickly. He began to stalk his way closer to me. “Come on! Have they already moved in fresh blood? Did I simply cease to exist?” He laughed, deep and soft, gradually getting higher and louder, more maniacal with each passing second. “Oh, I’m real, alright! I’m right here! YOU CAN SEE ME!” He shouted, suddenly lunging at me.   
Upon leaping out of the way, I bolted for the door, hearing that...thing's maniacal laughter behind me. I panicked as I ran to Em's room, hoping one of them could help me. As I opened the door, I felt myself begin to cry and break down completely, allowing the fear to fuel my movements. I found myself wanting to leave more than ever, yet I knew I couldn’t leave until sunrise! It was only about three in the morning, so I had to spend another five hours here, five more hours I would never get back.  
"Abigail, Em! Wake up! Please! I need help!" I cried, shaking the two of them awake. I was in hysterics, crying, yelling, shaking as I begged them to just listen. For once, if someone would listen to me, the one time I wanted someone to listen, and they were sleeping! How did they not hear the laughter? The yelling? How were they still asleep?  
Finally, Abigail rolled over. "What? Calm down, what's the matter with you?" Abigail stretched, and shook her head. "This thing, this dude, I don't know what it was, it was in the room, going through my things," Abigail placed a hand on my shoulder. "Relax. We'll check out the room, make sure you're safe and get you back to bed. Okay?" She gave my shoulder a slight squeeze and motioned for me to follow her out of the room.  
"Where’d you see it?" She asked looking around the room. I stood there, in the middle of the empty room, Noah still fast asleep on the mattress, whatever had been in the room was no longer there. At least, it didn’t seem like it was there. I actually hoped it wasn’t there, hiding in the dark corners or in the closet. “It...it was here!” I motioned around myself, furrowing my brows. “It started there, going through the bags, then it...it...the thing made its way towards me,” I paused, swallowing hard, dropping myself on the bed.   
“I know what I saw, it lunged at me! It lunged at me before I left! I know it was here! I saw it!” My heart was racing, my head was now pounding, and I felt faint. “I know, I know. It’s alright.” Abigail spoke from across the room, opening and looking into the closet. “What happened to his stuff?” I asked, staring at the ground as I thought through things. “Huh?” Abigail asked, spinning around and facing me fully. “What did you do with his things? You promised you’d tell me and never actually did. What happened to his things?” I fully raised my head and stared her down. “Oh...Well..” Abigail sighed and bowed her head.  
“Over a course of two weeks his stuff literally just...disappeared. He had disappeared in the night, then his stuff just disappeared with him.” she shrugged. “We didn’t sell it, nobody came in and took it, it just, poof...vanished.” she stopped and I raised an eyebrow. There was more to the story that she wasn’t telling me, I could feel it. “There’s reports of that happening all over the city. When someone goes missing in the night like that, their stuff disappears too. Sometimes even their pictures would vanish, it was like they didn’t even exist anymore.” She finished, bowing her head. “We don’t mention their names for the fear that their...spirits would come back, a more demented, evil version of them. I’m not sure to be honest.” She cleared her throat and stood up.  
“Stay awake tonight if you can. Don’t go back to sleep. He knows you can see him. Just...stay safe.” She stood up and walked back out of the room, and I bowed my head. I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. I felt myself break down again, sobbing out of fear and confusion. The stress finally piled up and boiled over. I was still so confused, and scared, and I just wanted to go home. Nothing would have made me happier than to go home. I looked back at Noah, sleeping peacefully, looking unbothered, cute and completely de-stressed, everything I wished I could’ve been in that moment.  
After coming down from my breakdown and calming down a little, I found myself sprawling back on the mattress, not allowing myself to sleep, but allowing myself to relax a bit. I found myself using the next four hours to, well, think! About what had happened, what had led me here, what had gotten me to this point in my life, where suddenly the only three friends I had were living in some haunted ass town in the middle of nowhere. And now I was here on vacation. Great, I love that for me.  
Around seven, Noah finally rolled around. “Oh. When did you wake up?” He grumbled, voice thick with sleep, stretching out and yawning. “Around three.” I answered, clearing my throat. My voice was thick from not being used. I quickly stood up and began packing our stuff. “What’s wrong? WHy are we packing? I thought we were going to stay a couple days!” Noah stretched, clearing his throat and sitting up.  
“We were. A thing appeared in the room and tried to kill me so we’re leaving!” I answered with a shrug. “Oh. Did you talk to them about it?” He got up, helping me grab the bags. I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m leaving after what the fuck I saw. They will not convince me otherwise.” I shrugged. “What exactly did you see?” Noah asked, now placing a hand on my shoulders. “Doesn’t matter. I’m leaving. I’m not staying here!” I answered with a shake of my head and another shrug. “Just tell me!” Noah asked, slouching forward and furrowing his brows.  
I sighed, knowing he wouldn’t stop until I told him. “It was...the roommate. His hair was thick and matted, his face was covered in blood, his clothing was ripped, his teeth were sharp and pointy. He looked like something out of a horror film. Happy now?” I spun around and tilted my head. He clearly needed to take a moment and think about what I said, so I picked up our bags and headed to the car. In the early dawn light, I could see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Great. I knew it hadn’t been just my imagination, but when things look this normal...it’s hard to disagree. I placed our bags in the trunk and re-locked the car, making a note of the normality of everything.  
When I got back in, Em had made breakfast. “Hey you! Why are you getting ready to go? I thought you wanted to stay?” She asked. I shook my head. “Nah, not after what I witnessed the previous night. Besides I got a call from my editor this morning, he needs me back home!” I answered with a shrug. Noah made his way out of the bedroom, nodding at Em. “Oh, morning!” She grinned. “Morning!” He gave me a puzzled look. “Don’t worry, stuff’s in the car. I’m ready to go when you are!” I said quickly, giving a soft grin.  
We quickly and quietly left the city that morning. Just getting out of there made me feel better. Within three hours we had managed to leave the city completely. And Noah consistently asked me if we needed to stop. I would say no each time, just wanting to put distance in between myself and that horrid city. I just wanted to go back to that average city, average home, and average life, and forget I’d ever come here. That was all, that’d be enough.  
When we finally pulled into our parking lot, having gotten back to our city and gone through a drive-thru for dinner, I decided to look into the city we’d left. “There’s nothing! The address doesn’t exist!” I spoke, my mind being blown. How could it not exist? We were just there! “What do you mean? We just left that place!” Noah asked, eyebrow raised, as he took my phone from me. Sure enough, Google was giving similar locations, but the exact place we looked for didn’t exist. “Huh. Text that Marco dude, see what he says.” Noah answered, handing back the phone. Upon texting Marco, I received a quick response of “That’s what happens. Forget this place ever existed, okay?”   
I locked eyes with Noah, and swallowed thickly. “Let’s just go in, and pretend this didn’t happen. Yeah?” I asked. Noah simply nodded, and we made our way inside, hoping to whatever powers there are that we wouldn’t be going back anytime soon. I guess we’ll never get to know what happens to the missing members of that town. Maybe that’s for the best though.


End file.
